Nina Simone

Time for a Nina Simone post. I didn't grow up knowing who Nina Simone was but I do feel like she would be mentioned in books that I read- like Terry McMillan etc. I could be wrong though. I always felt like she was an artist I could and should do a deep dive into. I should probably have started with her documentary- not sure why I haven't watched it. I started off by listening to her whole discography- which is amazing and worth listening to. These are my favorites but this is a limited list- there are other songs that I think should be required listening (Mississippi Goddamn, To Be Young Gifted and Black etc)...but I don't keep them in my shuffle because they are too emotional for me.

So we will start with I Loves You Porgy, which was the first Nina Simone song I downloaded and fell in love with. I remember listening to it on my original 2007 iPod (so long ago!).  I have always wanted to see the original movie Porgy and Bess with Dorothy Dandridge but could never find a good copy. My parents have the original record from Miles Davis in a frame which is pretty cool though.

I love this song, for some reason it reminds me of a song that should be on the Kill Bill soundtrack. There are a few remakes of this song- I've never heard them but I can't even begin to imagine they could touch the Nina Simone version. It's beautiful. Gotta have the studio version and the live. 

Feeling' Good shocked me because I had heard this song about a billion times growing up- but never realized it was Nina Simone. I'm pretty sure it was on a few commercials. I feel like I should set it as my alarm in the morning...sounds like it would be a good start to the day.

My Baby Just Cares For Me is a song I love. It's a jazz standard that Nina just owns. And the piano! There was another live clip on youtube that was taken down but it was amazing. I wish I could find it.

Ain't Got No took me on an emotional rollercoaster. It is very depressing in the beginning, I was wondering where the song was going but it turns around and ends up really turning the mood around. There are a few different version she has done of the song and I love them all. Powerful.

Sinnerman captivates me and fills me with fear/gives me chills all at the same time. I'm in awe of this performance. 

This performance was everything. I love, love, love it! Not me sitting up here watching it again like I haven't seen this performance at least 10 times. One of my favorite poems in music form.

Now I have all the feels. Listening to all these at once has me emotional but I'm not quite sure what emotion. Maybe confusion 😁. I almost forgot how much I love Nina Simone, I'm really happy I did this post and recommend checking them out if you aren't familiar with the legend that is Nina.